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Half-Life 2: Episode One Hints
Are there any shortcuts for this area?
1 of 28: There's one, but it's a bit of trouble to do, and it doesn't have all that great a benefit. Read on if you want to know what it is, anyway.
2 of 28: You'll need to prepare ahead of time by bringing three barrels (preferably non-explosive ones) along with you from the previous chapter section.
3 of 28: There are three barrels on the raised floor section that's directly across from the mounted gun emplacement that Alyx uses during most of the evac exercises. They're the most convenient ones to use.
4 of 28: Take all three of them into the train waiting room before everything gets all hectic, preferably right after escorting the first group of refugees there.
5 of 28: After you finish the evac and this chapter section starts, toss the barrels through the doorway in the back when Alyx opens it up.
6 of 28: Then use the gravity gun to set the barrels upright (if necessary) and stack them in a 2-1 "staircase" formation next to the leftmost transparent wall segment nearby.
7 of 28: Carefully jump up your barrel "staircase" so you can get up on top of the transparent wall.
8 of 28: Hop onto the slightly raised wall segment that's nearby, then make your way carefully along the top of the fence.
9 of 28: Look to the left as you go to find a gap between train car stacks that you can jump through to reach the ground.
10 of 28: You'll be just a bit past the point you'll end up at later after the strider appears and blasts open the train car in the back.
11 of 28: Get your pulse rifle out and go over next to the fence doorway with the two wooden pallets blocking it, then quickly shoot the two soldiers that rappel down nearby. (Alyx may glitchily appear at this point, but that's nothing to worry about.)
12 of 28: Make your way through this area along the regular route, eliminating obstacles such as flaming barrels, hoppers, and soldiers as you go.
13 of 28: TIP: Don't bust open any supply crates yet. Wait to get them later, since you may be lower on health and armor then, and some supply crates are "sensitive" to that and will yield health packs and armor batteries rather than always giving you ammo you don't need.
14 of 28: After you get past the platform where the strider will later try to crush you with a train car, drop down into the trench and clear it of hoppers and soldiers, but not explosive barrels.
15 of 28: WARNING: Do *NOT* go through the gap between train cars that leads to the ladder up to the rocket ledge. If you do, you'll hit a trigger point that will prevent the strider from ever appearing, which will stall the game and make it impossible to finish. (This has something to do with the fact that if you manage to rocket the strider to death without crossing the train yard to the rocket ledge, another one will show up and take its place.)
16 of 28: Due to that, you're going to need three explosive barrels to get back out of the trench.
17 of 28: If the ones behind the soldiers got blown up when you were shooting at them, use the gravity gun to pull down and set upright the three explosive barrels that are in the train car that's hanging a bit above the middle of the trench. (You may have to pull one barrel down and set it up so you can jump onto it before you can pull the other two barrels down.)
18 of 28: Set up these barrels in a 2-1 staircase somewhere along the trench's outer wall so you can use them to jump onto the top of that wall.
19 of 28: Once on it, make your way along it (crouching when necessary) until you can jump back up onto the platform with the train car on it that's directly above the wheel-opened door.
20 of 28: Drop down off the platform's other end, then use the wheel to let Alyx through the door.
21 of 28: If you didn't hit that above-mentioned no-strider trigger point in your scouting ahead, the strider will stomp into the train tracks area on cue and start doing its striderly duties.
22 of 28: You can now take the regular route to the rocket ledge, knowing that it will be quicker and easier due to your previous trip through.
23 of 28: Or you can run straight back to the 2-1 barrel staircase that you used to get up onto the transparent wall earlier.
24 of 28: If you get there, get up onto the wall, and run along it fast enough, the strider won't be able to shoot you very much as you run along the fence and onto the platform past it.
25 of 28: NOTE: If you're planning ahead of time on doing things this way, you can go straight for this platform and then the trench on your scouting trip rather than going through the areas that you know you're going to skip (unless you want to raid the supplies there).
26 of 28: The strider will start cannon-blasting the train car on that platform like it always does, so quickly run past it and drop down into the trench.
27 of 28: Now you can make a quick, unhindered run along the trench and through the gap in the train cars on the left, getting to the safe spot on the other side of the train faster.
28 of 28: Then run up the ladder and take cover behind the metal wall on the ledge next to the ladder's top.
